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“How did you do that?” I managed as I came up beside them to lead them down the hall. Each of the man’s steps reverberated the floor, tremors beneath my feet.
Nolan grinned over at me. “Well, my dad was supposed to go to work so he can make some money because he’s got a whole lotta bills he’s gotta pay, and I had to get my bag with all my favorite things in it so I could go to Miss Liberty’s house so she could take care of me, and I’m not supposed to be runnin’ on the stairs, but sometimes I just gotta hurry because I’m always makin’ him late.”
It spilled out in a garble.
My heart panged in my chest.
His dad grunted, though somehow, it was an affectionate sound, and I stole a peek that way, getting stuck on the way River ran a tattooed hand down the back of the child’s head.
Gently.
Tenderly.
“But you don’t need to be hurrying so fast that you take a tumble, now, do you?” he said in his gruff voice.
The little boy tsked. “Whelp, I guess some days I just got bad choices.”
River grunted again, and I slowed, waving a hand at the scale that sat outside the room. “Can he stand? I need to get his weight.”
The chart only said he had a mouth injury, but I wasn’t sure if he’d been hurt in any other way.
“Of course, I can stand. I’m already all the way five,” Nolan cut in, tossing a hand with all five fingers spread wide.
A twinge of wistfulness swept in, a dull, bitter ache, and I blinked back the burn at the back of my eyes. Lifting my chin, I angled my head at the scale. “Well, you’d better hop on then.”
His father seemed reluctant to set him down, glancing at me with those storm-cloud eyes, the gray toiling with the black, before he carefully placed the little boy onto his feet. He towered over him, like he was terrified the child might disappear if he let too much distance separate them.
My spirit thrashed, and there was a very stupid part of me that wanted to reach out and touch the horrifying designs that writhed over the bunching muscles of his arms, whisper my fingertips across his demons, and promise him I understood.
Nolan balanced on the scale, and the digital numbers hit the display.
“Firty-eight pounds!” Nolan shouted, thankfully stopping me from the dangerous train of thought. “I bet I weigh even more than my dad. Get on, Daddy-O, let’s see!”
In what appeared agitation, River raked his fingers through the longer pieces of his hair. “Sorry, buddy, but we’re not here for me.”
“Ah, man, fine.”
A giggle formed in my throat, and I tried to hold it back as I scribbled his weight into the chart before I used my pen to point at the room next to it. “We’re going to be right in here.”
I followed them in, and River sat in the chair in the corner and pulled the little boy onto his lap.
Nothing could seem so at odds.
The ferocity of the man, the enormity of his frame, the dark, swirling designs that spoke of the greatest evils and the deepest sorrows. Black hair and black eyes and black clothing. And sitting there on his lap was this tiny boy, a flop of messy brown curls on his head, freckles dashed across his cheeks and nose.
But it was the child’s blue, mesmerizing eyes that stole my breath.
My spirit clutched again, and I grabbed the thermometer, thankful to have something to do with my hands, but it wasn’t nearly enough to ground me as I slowly eased across the confined space so I was standing right in front of them.
Thunderstorm eyes clashed against mine, his massive arm locked protectively around the little boy’s waist.
I couldn’t look away from the man as I ran the thermometer across Nolan’s forehead and to his temple, then I glanced at the number when it beeped. “Ninety-eight point six. Perfect.”
Nolan looked up at his father with his wide, expressive gaze. “See, Dad, I told you that you didn’t even have to worry one bit.”
“Always worry.” I got the sense that River was talking to me. “Can’t hardly handle it when he gets hurt.”
“I think worrying comes with the territory,” I murmured. I tried to keep my attention on the child, but it kept getting dragged to the harshly cut lines of the man’s face as I checked the boy’s pulse.
